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Libraries have always provided videos as part of their collections, but advances in technology and bandwidth have made it possible now to offer streaming media. The increased accessibility of streaming, available on any network computer, from on or off campus, compared to a DVD makes the decision to seek streaming a no-brainer. Streaming videos however brings a new set of challenges for librarians: there are few or no licensing standards, rights ownership is often unclear and bandwidth limitations are some of them. In this panel we will be presenting the experiences of two academic libraries and of a streaming video provider.

Baruch College has been providing streaming media since fall 2008, with the advent of a new Film Studies minor. The films requested were feature films, often foreign films, not films easily available in any of the nascent aggregator streaming. We will discuss how we grew from streaming a couple of films a semester to over 50.

You’ll also hear about the experience of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in responding to faculty needs as more courses are offered online and students express a preference for streaming options over viewing DVDs in the classroom or the library.

One source of educational content is Docuseek2, which provides educational streaming access to films from such publishers and distributors as Bullfrog Films. Representatives of these two companies will explain the technical side of working with our libraries, and they will discuss the pros and cons of self-hosting versus using third party platforms to stream video.

This panel will consider licensing issues, access and security issues, and managing course deadlines. We will also discuss issues around hosting (or not) one’s content and what to consider. We will share what we have learned and some best practices that we have developed.

Christine Fischer is the Head of Technical Services at UNC Greensboro, where she has worked since 2005. She has an interest in streaming film, acquisition models, and organizational culture. She has held positions in academic and special libraries in both public and technical ser... Read More →